Greener Electronics Sharp Ranking - 10th Edition

Executive summary: Sharp climbs up the ranking from 16th place with a score of 3.1 to 10th with 4.9 points. Sharp scores well for its policy and practice on toxic chemical issues and gains a point for providing a timeline of 2010 for eliminating phthalates and antimony. It has launched many models of LCD TVs and solar modules that are free of PVC (except accessories) and has committed to eliminating phthalates from all products by the end of 2010.On e-waste criteria, Sharp is now supporting Extended Producer Responsibility – though not Individual Producer Responsibility. It also gains points for reporting its recycling rate in Europe. Sharp provides information to consumers in a few countries on what to do with their discarded Sharp branded products and reports on the use of small amounts of recycled plastic.Sharp’s sharp rise up the ranking is primarily due to improvements in its energy score. It scores top marks for supporting global cuts in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 50% by 2050 and at least 30% in industrialised countries by 2020. Sharp discloses third party verified GHG emissions from its own operations and reports that 0.2% of the electricity generated at its Japanese production sites in 2007 and 85% of electricity used at its US sites came from renewable energy sources. Sharp’s reporting of energy efficiency of its products continues to be weak.